"We are only poor folk!" he went on, in a firmer voice.

"Only gypsies, tinkers, road-menders, labourers, and the like! We cannot fight against the rich who ride us down! There's no law for us, because we can't pay for it.

We can't fee the counsel or dine the judge! The rich can pay.

They can trample us down under their devilish motor-cars, and obliging juries will declare our wrongs and injuries and deaths to be mere 'accident' or 'misadventure'! But if _they_ can kill, by God!--so can _we_! And if the law lets them off for murdering our children, we must take the law into our own hands and murder _them_ in turn--ay! even if we swing for it!" No one spoke.

The women still sobbed convulsively, but otherwise there was a great silence.